86 



which Hampden and Russell, Sydney and Chambers, had 

 devoted themselves in the preceding century, were at length 

 reaped by the commercial as well as the political part of the 

 nation. No longer was industry paralysed by those exac- 

 tions, monopolies and restrictions, which have been the 

 subject of our consideration in this memoir. Tbe occasional 

 attempts made by our Hanoverian Sovereigns to enlarge the 

 prerogative of the Crown, failed in each successive instance, 

 until, in our own day, these oppressions have been limited 

 to the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the practice of impressing 

 seamen for the Royal Navy. The free-trade doctrines of 

 Adam Smith have slowly, but steadily, gained the assent 

 of practical men and statesmen. After many arduous 

 struggles, British commerce and manufactures have been 

 freed from the shackles by which they were for centuries 

 encumbered. No longer considered as a fountain from 

 which royal ambition or pleasures were to be supplied, 

 they have accomplished their legitimate objects — the pro- 

 fitable employment of the people at home, and their pro- 

 tection against unjust attempts from abroad. Individual 

 wealth has been distributed to an extent unparalleled in 

 history. With every country on the face of the earth do 

 our merchants advantageously exchange the superfluous 

 products of our industry. 



" ' Quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris ?' 



" The wealth thus obtained is, in its immediate effects, 

 a mighty blessing ; but in its ulterior ones still mightier. 

 Peace and civilization follow in its train ; — civil and reli- 

 gious liberty wait upon it. In our mixed constitution it 

 re-acts upon the body politic, and by throwing power into 

 the hands of the people, enables them at once to assert 

 their rights, and to perform their duties. By inspiring 

 general independence and confidence, it becomes the cheap 

 defence of the nation. Such, in the palmy days of Hoi- 



