scene of babbing, the school of giddiness, the academy of vice; a warfare ubi velis nolis pugnandum, aut vincas autf succumbas, in which kill, or be killed; wherein every man is for himself, his private ends, and stands upon his own guard.-Burton.

In the Individual System, each man acts for himsel alone. Individual power, wealth, learning, fame, are aspired to by the mass of mankind, according to their various talents and opportunities; and the means by which these are pursued, are right or wrong, honourable or dishonourable, virtuous or criminal, according to the moral character of each individual. According to this system, there is a strong tendency for power, wealth, and even for learning and science-to accumulate in a few hands, while mankind at large, are weak, poor, ignorant, and, in a word, barbarous.

This system is necessarily a mixture of extremes, as to power, wealth, and poverty; despotism in some, slavery in others, are almost inseparable from it. The learning which exists in such a state of society, is in like manner extremely liable to monopoly. Privilege and caste divide the world into classes: each class is separated from the others by the individual principle, while within each class, the same principle divides the members as much from each other, as if they belonged to a different rank; thus also, a principle of competition is established, each man considering his neighbour as a rival, who stands in the way of his own prosperity, and whom he must by every means in his power out-strip or supplant. Excessive competition is so essential to this system, that it is the grand motive inculcated upon every child from its birth; high or low, rich or poor, all are stimulated from the cradle, in all their childish pastimes, and in all their elementary education, to aim only at one object, which is to get above a neighbour. A comparison is drawn, not between the pupil and the subject, but between one pupil and another. A boy is not simply to acquire knowledge, but to know more than another; not to select the most useful studies, but to excel in those which are most in vogue; not to hold correct opinions, but to defend those that are held; not to search for truth, but to bow to authority.

Whatever objections there may be to such a state of society, theoretically viewed-whatever abuses it may be liable to-whatever miseries it may be connected with

yet, it is a system unavoidable in the infancy of the world; it has been invented by no set of artful men, but it is the growth of nature herself; the injuries, crimes, and miseries of which it is accused, are the abuses, and not the essence of the system; and though a severe parent, it is still the parent of the most momentous blessings to the world at large.

The Individual System results necessarily and unavoidably, among a set of beings, gifted with high and noble faculties, born in a state of entire ignorance, and compelled to support life by daily labour. Inequality of faculties, character, and circumstances, must immediately give rise to inequality of rank, and division of labour; and hence, the origin of arts and sciences, and the ultimate regeneration and happiness of the whole race. Had mankind remained perfectly equal, they would for ever have remained ignorant and barbarous. Their boasted equality would have been an equality of degradation, of mere animal life, beyond which they never would have advanced. The very mode in which beings are introduced into the world, the relation of old and young, of parent and child, at once destroys all trace of equality. The simple yet important fact, that knowledge is acquired, not innate that knowledge is the result of experience and time-that it generally grows with our growth-this simple fact proclaims at once two momentous truths, that rank is unequal, and that man is progressive.

It is true, that the mere labourer is a man of few ideas, of narrow mind, of low desires: but, his incessant labour gives leisure to others, that leisure gives rise to reflection (properly so called), to knowledge of all kinds, to arts and sciences. The mind of man is enabled to unfold itself; the nature and qualities of its powers are tried and proved; and a new world, totally different from that with which his daily wants are connected, begins to be entered upon. The world of mind, of intellectual power, of spiritual refinement, of moral perfection, would never have been known to man, without inequality of rank, and without the Individual System. That principle in man, by which whole tribes and nations are induced to look up to one individual, a creature in every respect like themselves, with a degree of awe and veneration approaching to religious homage, and which makes it even a duty to consider him as the

absolute master of their lives and property; this very principle, acting under different modifications, is also the parent of civilization, and of the progressive improvement of man.

In the Individual System, as all power emanates from one to many, so all knowledge follows the same direction. The course, indeed, of knowledge is more especially confined to that one direction. Knowledge being progressive, must necessarily be an object of discovery and invention. Some one individual must first be the happy person to become acquainted with a new fact and a new truth; from him it must be communicated to others, who become the instruments of handing it on still farther, till it descends to the lowest of mankind. So one country shall attain a superior degree of light and knowledge to other nations, and be the means of illuminating those that sit in ignorance and darkness.

Those who have paid much attention to knowledge, and have self-reflection enough to watch the progress of their own minds, are the best to judge of the extreme slowness with which the first steps are made in the cultivation of the faculties, and the first grains picked up on the golden mountain of knowledge. They also must see the extreme importance of assistance at the outset; when artificial signs come to be studied instead of things themselves; and the obscure and often absurd records of man, are to be compared with facts and things, and to be received or rejected, by the principles of eternal truth. The first steps in knowledge are indeed extremely difficult and laborious, and require exclusive leisure of time, as well as a mind of a peculiar turn. Thus, in the early period of the world, ages might roll away before the leisure of the division of ranks could give birth to any thing deserving the name of knowledge or science. The wonder is, not that man has not achieved more, but rather that he was able to achieve so much, under such disadvantages.

The Individual System, therefore, seems to have been absolutely necessary for the birth of arts and sciences, because absolutely necessary for the leisure required. Nor when power was thus accumulated in the hands of a few, are we to conclude that the few would necessarily misdirect it. History, indeed, teems with the deeds of power, often employed in a questionable shape; but, that the

possessors of power entered into a tacit combination against the happiness of the world, is not the lesson of history.

We should rather say, that the exertions of power have, on the whole, been eminently beneficial to the race, and that its benefits are still only in their infancy. Arts and sciences were as essential for the purposes of power, as for the common comforts of man. Men of science, knowledge, and learning, were the right hand of power; by them only could plans of self-defence, or of enterprise, or of domestic and national grandeur, be conceived and executed. Therefore, schools, and colleges, and scientific institutions, were among the early objects of wealthy kings. The necessity of leisure for study, shut out all idea that universal knowledge was a thing practicable or desirable: but, compared with the state of the world, very extensive schools were formed for the dissemination of that knowledge which was known or deemed desirable. We must not judge the measures of olden time by rules derived from a new state of the world; it is sufficient for their credit and glory, that they faithfully served the system to which they belonged, and the only system for which the world was fitted.

We have thus endeavoured to explain the nature of this system. It was admirably adapted to the infancy of society; and the high stimulus which it held out to the exertions of individuals, in every direction, was so much bounty upon the production of knowledge. Knowledge would have required a much greater length of time for its perfection, had it not been forced forward in this hot-bed of zeal and ambition; if, indeed, it could ever have grown at all.

Even

But the time has now arrived when the labourer may begin to reap the fruit which has been ripening under the Individual System. Knowledge, which was formerly confined to a few closets, is now in every body's hands. The methods of acquiring that knowledge, which were formerly long, irksome, and laborious, are now short, pleasant, and easy. Ten years of study are now reduced to one. the use of books is now better understood that they are aids to knowledge, and not substitutes for it. Machinery has reached that state, when it dispenses with a great portion of the labourer's time-and the labourer begins to understand, that what is powerful as an enemy, must be equally powerful as a friend. The workman has also

acquired a power of reflection, and a freedom from passion, which formerly disturbed his movements; in short, he has acquired all the elements of co-operation, and wants only to be habituated to the practice of it. Time and experience are as necessary for co-operation as for other institutions: many mistakes may be expected to be madesome failures may happen, from ignorance and inexperience; but, even these will be productive of good, and great teachers of true principles; till, at last, all rocks being clearly pointed out, co-operation will hold on its course to the end of time.-Anon.

The competition which exists in producing and distributing wealth, necessarily creates a covered civil warfare between the individuals who are engaged in the same profession or business. Their interests are made to appear, by the existing arrangements of society, to be directly opposed one to another, and they are in opposition to each other, to so great an extent, that feelings of enmity, producing jealousy, discord, and anger, are but too frequently the natural result of men being placed under circumstances compelling them to injure each other, in the means by which they must maintain themselves and families.

Individual and national competition and contest are the best modes that have been, or perhaps can be, devised, under the existing irrational notions of the world, by which wealth can be created and distributed; and the object desired is thereby effected, in some manner, to a certain extent. But it is obtained by creating and calling into full action the most inferior feelings, the meanest faculties, the worst passions, and the most injurious vices, which can be cultivated in human nature; and the objects sought to be obtained by the measures, destructive as they are to the well-being and happiness of mankind, are yet most imperfectly obtained.

It is the true interest of society to procure a full sufficiency of wealth of intrinsic value, and to distribute it for the benefit of all, in the best manner; that is, with the least labour to all the members of the society, and especially with the least amount of unhealthy and disagreeable employment. Now, individual and national contest and competition is a mode of producing wealth which, in connection with the other parts of the miserable system by which