With chains concealed in chaplets. Oh! not yet HENRY C. CAREY. THIS distinguished writer on political economy, whose praise is in both hemispheres, is the son of Mathew Carey,' and was born in Philadelphia in 1793. Succeeding his father in his extensive publishing business in 1821, he continued in this pursuit, so congenial to his literary tastes, till 1838. He seemed to inherit a strong inclination to investigate subjects in connection with political economy, and in 1836 gave the results of his speculations in an "Essay on the Rate of Wages," which, in 1840, was expanded into the "Laws of Wealth, or Principles of Political Economy," 3 vols. 8vo. The positions of this work at once attracted the attention of the European political economists, and from many of them elicited the warmest praise. It was published in Italian at Turin, and in Swedish at Upsal. In 1848, Mr. Carey published "The Past, the Present, and the Future," the design of which is to show that men are everywhere now acting very much as they heretofore have acted, and that they act thus in obedience to a great and universal law, directly the reverse of that taught by Ricardo, Malthus, and their successors. For several years, Mr. Carey contributed all the leading articles, and many of less importance, to the periodical entitled "The Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil." Many of these were collected and published in a volume, entitled "The Harmony of Interests, Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Commercial ;” and others of them in a pamphlet called "The Prospect, Agricultural, Manufacturing, Commercial, and Financial, at the Opening of 1851." In 1853, appeared "The Slave Trade; 1 Mathew Carey was a native of Dublin, and coming over to this country early in life, established himself in the book-publishing business, which for a great number of years he carried on very extensively and with great success. He was also distinguished as a philanthropist, and up to the very last year of his long life he labored to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity. Of the "Harmony of Interests," Blackwood's Magazine thus remarks: "Mr. Carey, the well-known statistical writer of America, has supplied us Domestic and Foreign: why it exists, and how it may be extinguished." It is Mr. Carey's intention "to devote the remaining years of his life to the development of a new system of political economy, diametrically opposed to that generally taught; all the laws of which will be in perfect harmony with each other, and tend to the promotion of perfect harmony among men and nations." Mr. Carey has now in press a work which will soon be published, entitled "Principles of Social Science," in three volumes. Having had the privilege of reading the first volume in advance, we venture the assertion that the work, when completed, will place him at the head of political economists in the world. From this first volume we make the following extracts, which will be, we think, of most general interest; but which, of course, can give but little idea of the argument, the principles, and the illustrations of the great whole. MAN THE SUBJECT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. Man, the molecule of society, is the subject of social science. In common with all other animals, be requires to eat, drink, and sleep; but his greatest need is that of association with his fellow-men. Born the weakest and most dependent of animals, he requires the largest care in infancy, and must be clothed by others, whereas to birds and beasts clothing is supplied by nature. Capable of acquiring the highest degree of knowledge, he appears in the world destitute even of that instinct which teaches the bee and the spider, the bird and the beaver to construct their habitations, and to supply themselves with food. Dependent upon the experience of himself and others for all his knowledge, he requires language to enable him either to record the results of his own observation, or to profit by those of others; and of language there can be none without association. Created in the image of his Maker, he should with ample materials for conducting such an inquiry; and we can safely recommend his remarkable work to all who wish to investigate the causes of the progress or decline of industrial communities." "Mr. Carey has clearly substantiated his claim to be the leading writer now devoted to the study of political economy. In his pregnant discussions, he has not only elevated the scientific position of his country, but nobly subserved the cause of humanity."-New York Quarterly. While we are writing this (February, 1858), Mr. Carey is addressing a series of admirable letters to the President of the United States upon the present depressed condition of the financial, commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests of our country-its causes and remedy. "Men of the Time, or Sketches of Living Notables." participate in his intelligence; but it is only by means of ideas that he can avail himself of the faculties with which he has been endowed; and without language there can be no ideas, no power of thought. Without language, therefore, he must remain in ignorance of the existence of powers granted to him in lieu of the strength of the ox and the horse, the speed of the hare, and the sagacity of the elephant, and must remain below the level of the brute creation. To have language, there must be association and combination of men with their fellow-men; and it is on this condition only that man can be man; on this alone that we can conceive of the being to which we attach the idea of man. "It is not good," said God, "that man should live alone;" nor do we ever find him doing so the earliest records of the world exhibiting to us beings living together in society, and using words for the expression of their ideas. Whence came those words? Whence came language? With the same propriety might we ask, Why does fire burn? Why does man see, feel, hear, or walk? Language escapes from him at the touch of nature herself; and the power of using words is his essential faculty, enabling him to maintain commerce with his fellow-men, and fitting him for that association without which language cannot exist. The words "society" and "language" convey to the mind separate and distinct ideas; and yet by no effort of the mind can we conceive of the existence of the one without the other. The subject of social science, then, is man, the being to whom have been given reason and the faculty of individualizing sounds so as to give expression to every variety of idea, and who has been placed in a position to exercise that faculty. Isolate him, and with the loss of the power of speech he loses the power to reason, and with it the distinctive quality of man. Restore him to society, and with the return of the power of speech he becomes again the reasoning man. COMMERCE AND TRADE. The words "commerce" and "trade" are commonly regarded as convertible terms, yet are the ideas they express so widely different as to render it essential that their difference be clearly understood. All men are prompted to associate and combine 'Language, without doubt, was the immediate gift of God to man at the Creation. with each other, to exchange ideas and services with each other, and thus to maintain COMMERCE. Some men seek to perform exchanges for other men, and thus to maintain TRADE. Commerce is the object everywhere desired, and everywhere sought to be accomplished. Traffic is the instrument used by commerce for its accomplishment; and the greater the necessity for the instrument, the less is the power of those who require to use it. The nearer the consumer and the producer, and the more perfect the power of association, the less is the necessity for the trader's services, but the greater are the powers of those who produce and consume, and desire to maintain commerce. The more distant they are, the greater is the need of the trader's services, and the greater is his power-but the poorer and weaker become the producers and the consumers, and the smaller is the commerce. The value of all commodities being the measure of the obstacles standing in the way of their attainment, it follows necessarily that the former will increase with every increase of the latter, and that every step in that direction will be attended by a decline in the value of man. The necessity for using the services of the trader constituting an obstacle standing in the way of commerce, and tending to enhance the value of things, while depressing that of man, to whatever extent it can be diminished, to the same extent must it tend to diminish the value of the first, and increase that of the last. That diminution comes with the growth of wealth and population, with the development of individuality, and with the increase in the power of association; and commerce grows always in the direct ratio of its increase of power over the instrument known as trade, precisely as we see it to do in reference to roads, wagons, ships, and other instruments. The men who buy and sell, who traffic and transport, desire to prevent association, and thus to preclude the maintenance of commerce; and the more perfectly their object is accomplished, the larger is the proportion of the commodities passing through their hands, retained by them; and the smaller the proportion to be divided between the producers and the consumers. WAR AND TRADE. War and trade regard man as the instrument to be used, whereas commerce regards trade as the instrument to be used by man; and therefore it is that man declines when the power of the warrior and trader grows, and rises as that power declines. Wealth increases as the value of commodities-or the cost at which they may be reproduced-declines. Values tend to decline with every diminution of the power of the trader; and therefore it is that we see wealth to increase so rapidly when the consumer and producer are brought into close connection with each other. Were it otherwise, it would be in opposition to a well-known physical law, from the study of which we learn that, with every diminution in the machinery required for producing a given effect, there is a diminution of friction and consequent increase of power. The friction of commerce results from the necessity for the services of the trader, his ships, and his wagons. As that necessity diminishes-as men are more and more enabled to associate-there is diminution of friction, with constant tendency towards continuous motion among the various portions of society, with rapid increase of individuality and of the power of further progress. Commerce, then, is the object sought to be accomplished. Trade is the instrument. The more that man becomes master of the instrument, the greater is the tendency towards the accomplishment of the object. The more the instrument becomes master of him, the less is that tendency, and the smaller must be the amount of commerce. THE WARRIOR-CHIEF AND THE TRADER. The object of the warrior-chief being that of preventing the existence of any motion in society except that which centres in himself, he monopolizes land, and destroys the power of voluntary association among the men he uses as his instruments. The soldier, obeying the word of command, is so far from holding himself responsible to God or man for the observance of the rights of person or of property, that he glories in the extent of his robberies, and in the number of his murders. The man of the Rocky Mountains adorns his person with the scalps of his butchered enemies; while the more civilized murderer contents himself with adding a ribbon to the decoration of his coat; but both are savages alike. The trader-equally with the soldier seeking to prevent any movement except that which centres in himself also uses irresponsible machines. The sailor is among the most brutalized of human beings, bound, like the soldier, to obey orders, at the risk of having |