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An eager and patient seeker of knowledge might think that the matter is prepared too exclusively with an eye to its diffusion. For, after all the explanations that can be made, there are some things which refuse to be made plain, and others to which some difficulty of access gives a peculiar zest. Books written for one purpose are not likely to be very serviceable for another. Lawyers' briefs are poor materials for Judges' decisions; and authors who are writing specially for the dif fusion of knowledge are quite as much interested in making their productions attractive and pleasant, as serious and valuable.

But the germ of the work, and in many respects the best of its fruit, is the Preliminary Discourse, in which the object and design are set forth in the style of those essays for which Lord Brougham is so famous, and which he has written so well,elegant, copious, and plausible, even when not convincing, distinguished for an easy handling of the subject, and for variety of remark and illustration. It is on the advantage of political science, and is devoted to the proof and illustration of the importance of knowledge as a political element in society, setting forth the benefit of some sort of provision for its extension among the great body of the people who are to profit by it, and exposing the evils which they are said to suffer on account of their ignorance of affairs of state. The pleasant picture which it presents of the future, when the miseries of war, the folly of bad measures, the violence of party, the injustice of prejudice, and even the narrowness of patriotism, are all to be cured by the prevalence of political knowledge and by the habit of political action, it would be impossible to exhibit so effectively as it appears in this discourse. As we hardly feel called upon to reproduce the whole essay, we will only refer to it as containing the brightest and best stored magazine of implements for those who have occasion for that line of argument. One part, however, we cannot bear to pass over, in which the common propensity to indulge in political speculation is considered, and a multitude of advantages deduced from the practice. In the first place, the science of politics is represented as capable of being one of the most certain of sciences, which is contrary, we confess,

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to the prevalent opinion, and, as a natural consequence, the conclusions of the philosophers may be expected to be of the greatest use in the construction and working of governments. Various objections, such as that of the danger of weakening the attachment of the people for existing institutions, arising out of the contemplation of conflicting forms of polity, and of thus unsettling the foundations of government, are gently, but decidedly, put aside; and knowledge, particularly political knowledge, is exalted as the palladium of the State. An extraordinary and particular enjoyment is attributed to the pursuit of political speculations, quite sufficient to satisfy any of those practical utilitarian American skeptics, who might be inclined to push their inquiries too far as to the value of such lucubrations, even including those with which we propose to edify our readers. We only hope that the pleasure extends to the reading, as well as to the making, of such reflections; in that case, the advantage on which Lord Brougham dwells will not fail to be recognized.

In one respect, the importance of knowledge as a political element is not only not exaggerated, but not even fully appreciated; we mean that knowledge of the opinions of others, and that general and mutual action and reaction of one mind upon another, which results in and accompanies the formation of Public Opinion. The division of governments into aristocracies, monarchies, and republics was well enough once; but in modern times, the only classification of any consequence is that relating to the nature, the existence, or the possibility of a Public Opinion in communities, and its means of making itself known. Differences in this respect are those which appear to travellers and spectators as practically the most vital and important in the condition of different countries. They shape the policy of governments, and determine the means by which political action is carried on; for these means, when Public Opinion exists and is free to manifest itself, are substantially the same. Whatever the form of the govern ment, this is its essence. Whether it is a government of the few or the many, depends upon the extent to which a Public Opinion is established in any community, and known to exist by those who entertain it. Ideas always become more intense

by being shared by many minds; and especially in politics, it is all important that it be known that ideas are backed by numbers. Oppression is easily exercised over multitudes, so long as the resistance it excites is confined to the individual; but as soon as the feeling of each one is known to all, it becomes impossible. That a Public Opinion, worthy of the name, exists at all in a nation, that is, that the whole or a large portion are disciplined into harmony of feeling, is a sure sign of a high state of civilization; and it proves the exist ence of good government. Such a union, and the knowledge of it, are the most powerful of all political instruments in the hands of government or people. But the union which is predominant in politics is a union of interests, and of interests alone; for the nature of political association represents nothing Very little instruction is needed to give men a knowledge of their own interests. Whether this union of opinion is wise or foolish, based on knowledge or ignorance, truth or falsehood, whether its objects are just or unjust, provided it exists and is known to exist, it must prevail in politics, for there is nothing but itself to control or to reform it.

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To judge correctly belongs to other departments of education and action. But farther than the mere knowledge, we think it very doubtful whether that information which can be acquired by any process of education is, or ever can be made, an element of such first-rate importance in politics as it is very generally supposed to be. The love of knowledge is indeed one of the most ardent and generous feelings that takes possession of individual minds. It is ordinarily favorable to the growth of virtue, and prompts occasionally to great sacrifices. But it is not a general passion, or one which stimulates enthusiasm and union in action; and without one or the other of these, political consequence is impossible. Then, again, education and the possession of knowledge are usually distributed upon a certain scale, as it were, through the ranks of society. If one part is advanced, the rest are apt to be advanced likewise, so that much the same proportion of power is preserved between the different parts. If greater skill, greater information, greater wisdom, are demanded in the government of a wellinformed people, there are also better means of obtaining

them, and we see no reason why they should not be supplied. We do not see that there is, in fact, any insufficiency in the statesmen of modern times in relation to the people. The Websters, Peels, Guizots of our time, are as much in advance of the Walpoles and Cobbetts, as we are of the people whom they governed. To represent knowledge as the only source. of political power, is to take it for granted that it is only necessary for men to know their best interests in order to induce them to pursue these interests. How far this is from the truth, those who have had most experience of mankind can best determine. Knowledge is a power which is capable of being turned to the worst, as well as the best, uses; and the roused passions of governments or people care little for the instruction that is offered to them, except as it adds fuel to their flame, or furnishes the means of their gratification. It is no denial of the doctrine of progress to suggest that the progress takes place principally outside of the operation of government, which, within its own sphere, remains always substantially the same. That sphere may be enlarged or narrowed by external causes. The means of applying principles, and the modes of exercising power, change with the course of time and increase of knowledge. Special measures pursued in our age are outgrown in the next; and in this way, great improvements are made in government. But the new measures were not neglected so long because nobody knew of them before; nor are they introduced solely because they have been found out by a great number. When interest is opposed to knowledge, the latter finds no better foothold now than formerly. We do not hear that the moralists are grown better satisfied with the doings of politicians; their standing quarrel still remains.

There has been an evident advance in general knowledge among civilized nations during the last century. Has there been any corresponding moral change in the nature and objects of their governments? This is a question which we hardly dare ask, because we are aware how prevalent the opinion is, that a great change has come over the spirit of power, and a new era of peace and good-will commenced on earth. It is indeed a time of peace and dearly bought exhaustion; a time in which all kinds of moralists, philosophers,

and reformers are at liberty to occupy the public stage, while it is vacant of other performers. As against them, the daring, active, and worldly spirits who touch the springs and hold the traditional authority of government keep their own secret because they are confident of their strength. They know that whenever they please, whenever the time of that success arrives which justifies crime and silences remorse, they can blow away these public delusions at a breath. In every society, as in every heart of man, there is a hell that can be unloosed. The time of little wars and aimless battles is past; but great systems of war and empire, in harmony with the enlarged scale of moral enterprises, and vast enough to bewilder the imagination and affect the interests of the world, are possible still. Is not Europe a camp of hostile armies? Does England attach less importance than formerly to her empire of the seas? Is France kept down by moral suasion? Are not the United States plainly striding towards the dominion of this continent? And what hand can save us from the fate of greatness and power? After more than half a century of the largest political education, under the most favorable constitution that was ever enjoyed by any nation; after having our political life developed and intensified certainly to an extraordinary preponderance among our social interests, and, in the opinion of many, so as to threaten to absorb and extinguish every other liberal inclination; after having produced so many great men, and placed them in situations of influence and honor, from which their spirit and instructions have descended upon the whole body of the people by means of the widest circulating press which the most unlimited freedom and universal popular education that ever existed together have been able to create, — how much nearer are we to that happy condition which is presented in this Discourse as the natural result of the diffusion of useful knowledge? And although our knowledge and cultivation increase daily, it is by no means the general impression that our politics are improving, either in the details of practice, or in the scope and character of their objects.

The effect of such arguments as those of this Discourse, when applied to real life, is the same as when one undertakes

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