316 Decline of' Science in England. 



" his time in that exercise which Mr Babbage deems so far 

 " below the genius of a Wellington. Perhaps if the illus- 

 " trious British commander had contented himself during the 

 " last years with superintending the discipline and drilling of 

 " the Grenadier Guards, instead of figuring at the head of 

 « government, he would have rendered an essential service to 

 " his country, not attended with a loss of that popularity 

 " which was once so deservedly bestowed upon the conqueror 

 " of Waterloo. But we cannot help remarking, that the case 

 " which Mr Babbage very justly reprobates actually exists in 

 " England. If Lord Wellington had not been what he is, 

 " the son of the Earl of Mornington, but the son of a farmer, 

 " a common soldier, like the present king of Sweden, Ney, 

 " Lefebure, Soult, Murat, Lannes, and similar men, he might 

 " have been, according to the institutions of England, doomed 

 " for life to the drilling of recruits, but he never could have 

 " been an officer." 



On first catching the substance of this paragraph, it is diffi- 

 cult to resist the impression that the author really united the 

 incongruous characters of a scientific and a radical reformer ; 

 and, but for the appendage of the responsible name of Mr 

 Faraday, we should certainly have regarded it as a hoax upon 

 the credulity of Englishmen. The attack upon the Duke of 

 Wellington is most unmerited, and we think we speak the 

 sentiments of all parties when we say, that but for one impru- 

 dent demonstration against a great popular measure, his me- 

 rits as a statesman will bear a comparison even with his mili- 

 tary greatness. But how shall we reply to the astounding 

 charge, that the institutions of England are such that none but 

 the sons of Earls can become even officers ! Silence is the best 

 refutation of a charge so palpably untrue, and we shall only 

 ask our author how, under such a system, scientific men could 

 either expect or obtain rewards. 



From the state of our Universities, of which we have allow- 

 ed our author alone to speak, we pass to the state of our 

 Boyal Society ; and we shall consider whether or not it has 

 suffered such a change as to lead to the inference that science 

 may on that account have declined. 



Within a short period previous to the death of Sir H. Davy, 

 this distinguished individual filled successively the offices <>t 



