14 



persons will not be deterred from carrying on useful labours and 

 projects, because they have failed in impractical^le ones. 



On tlie attention of the Statesman and the Politician, we have 

 likewise no inconsiderable claim. The Royal Institution is able 

 to offer assistance in investigations of great interest, connected 

 with public works, with articles of manufacture productive to the 

 revenue, in the selection of naval and military stores, and the examina- 

 tion of the arms and materials employed in war, the quality of 

 which is of the greatest importance. On another ground likewise, 

 we have an especial right to their patronage and protection. Our 

 object is one, which in its extension, cannot fail to promote arts and 

 manufactures, and to raise novel objects of industry. 



It is no new truth, no recent discovery, that the prosperity and 

 the riches of a country are intimately connected with the progress of 

 the Arts and Sciences ; and how much this progress is assisted by 

 public honours and encouragement, may be learnt from an instance 

 in a neighbouring country. 



That Colbert, the Minister of Louis XIV, raised the power of 

 the French nation, is known as an historical truth ; and it is like- 

 wise known, that this was principally owing to the patronage which 

 he so amply bestowed upon Sciences, Arts, and Manufactures ; and a 

 succession of such efforts, unless met by corresponding energies on 

 our own part, would do more to diminish the great commercial 

 superiority of Britain, than all the armies, and all the edicts, which 

 have lately been so vainly opposed to our prosperity. 



To all persons of liberal views and of cultivated minds, the parti- 

 cular departments of knowledge, to be illustrated or pursued in the 

 Royal Institution, may not be devoid of interest. To the Legis- 

 lator and the Senator, an acquaintance with the sources from which 

 the great improvements of modern times are derived, cannot be 

 wholly useless ; and the History of the Arts of Life seldom forms a 

 part of the common course of education. The diminution of labour 

 by machinery ; the riches that may be derived from perfection in 

 the branches of trade ; the general principles of Inventions in 

 Chemistry and Mechanics, are not improper objects of study for the 

 political oeconomist : and knowledge of this kind must enchance the 

 powers of eloquence : for harmonious combinations of words are 

 never so impressive as when they refer to reaUties and to facts which 

 cannot be questioned. One of the most celebrated orators of 

 modern times, owed great part of the effect he produced to the 

 copiousness of his instances, to the fullness, variety, and minuteness 

 of his knowledge respecting the Scientific Principles of the refined 

 and common Arts ; and it is this circumstance, as much as his 

 vehement and powerful manner, his poetical imagery, and his 

 wonderful sagacity, that will carry his memory illustrious into future 

 ages. 



Our doors are to be open to all who wish to profit by knowledge ; 



