Those states which take
no active part in the general industrial movement, in the choice and
preparation of natural substances, or in the application of mechanics and
chemistry, and among whom this activity is not appreciated by all classes of
society, will infallibly see their prosperity diminish in proportion as
neighboring countries become strengthened and invigorated under the genial
influence of arts and sciences.
As in nobler spheres of thought and sentiment, in philosophy, poetry, and
the fine arts, the object at which we aim ought to be an inward one -- an
ennoblement of the intellect -- so ought we likewise in our pursuit of
science, to strive after a knowledge of the laws and the principles of unity
that pervade the vital forces of the universe; and it is by such a course
that
p 54
physical studies may be made subservient to the progress of industry, which
is a conquest of mind over matter. By a happy connection of causes and
effects, we often see the useful linked to the beautiful and the exalted.
The improvement of agriculture in the hands of freemen, and on properties of
a moderate extent -- the flourishing state of the mechanical arts freed from
the trammels of municipal restrictions -- the increased impetus imparted to
commerce by the multiplied means of the intellectual progress of mankind,
and of the amelioration of political institutions, in which this progress is
reflected.
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