132 A Project for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance. [FEB. 



in sad earnest : unless the measures we are about to propose are speedily 

 taken, we venture to predict that at the close of another century, pro- 

 bably much sooner, the friends of established institutions will look 

 round them in vain for a single sinecure place ; nor will there be a 

 mitre, nor so much as the shovel-hat of a dean, throughout all England. 



We begin, by taking for granted, that the most effectual way of coun- 

 teracting the influence of knowledge, is by the instrumentality of the 

 antagonist principle ignorance. The grand object, therefore, is to 

 augment the quantity of the latter as much as possible, and bring it 

 into action (if we may use the phrase) with the greatest possible mecha- 

 nical advantage. Now, if we remark the proceedings of the Knowledge- 

 party, we shall find that the secret of their success consists, not in the 

 intrinsic strength of their cause (as they insolently pretend), but in the 

 organized and systematic plan of operations they have long and steadily 

 pursued ; not squandering their resources in desultory efforts, or relying 

 upon the powers of individuals, however vast their learning, or splendid 

 their talents ; but concentrating their forces in a variety of societies and 

 associations, such as Mechanics' Institutes, Circulating Libraries, Socie- 

 ties for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, &c., acting, in fact, upon 

 the same principle which led those kindred spirits, the Reformers of 

 Birmingham and other places, to form themselves into the confederacies 

 called Political Unions. To this systematic method of carrying on the 

 war, it appears to us, that knowledge is indebted for all her successes ; 

 and it is our deliberate opinion, that the interests of ignorance owe their 

 present depressed (though far from desperate) condition, to the neglect 

 of corresponding operations upon that side. Their dependence has been 

 entirely upon occasional sallies and detached movements a speech of my 

 Lord Londonderry, or my Lord Dudley, a pamphlet by Mr. Sadler, 

 or an article in the Quarterly, by Basil Hall, or the Ex-Secretary of the 

 Admiralty. All that mere personal prowess could do was unquestionably 

 done ; powers of dulness and mystification, almost supernatural, were 

 put forth by individuals ; and, as far as either cause was capable of 

 being furthered by the mere quantity of ignorance or knowledge in an 

 isolated effort, Lords Londonderry and Brougham were equally pow- 

 erful supporters of their respective parties. But it was not upon this 

 sort of guerilla warfare the latter nobleman and his friends reckoned for 

 success : no ! they established lectureships ; pulled down ancient ale- 

 houses and erected Mechanics' Institutes ; they founded a society for the 

 avowed purpose of extending useful, and (mark the arts of the seducers!) 

 entertaining information ; they encouraged Lancastrian schools ; patro- 

 nized Hamiltonian, Pestalozzian, and divers other systems for propa- 

 gating knowledge as it were by force of steam ; and to crown all, they 

 founded an Institution in the democratic precincts of Russell-square, to 

 which they gave the name of University, with the fraudulent intent of 

 masking its real object, by leading the unthinking to regard it as a 

 similar establishment to those of Oxford and Cambridge ; whereas it 

 soon came out, that its views were diametrically opposite, and that in 

 reality it was only another engine for carrying on the trade of dissemi- 

 nating truth and knowledge. 



Having thus stated the machinations of the enemy, and the successes 

 that have attended their manoeuvres, our advice to the conservative party 

 is simply as follows : The Romans overcame the world by adopting the 

 military arts and weapons of the nations by whom they were themselves 



