14 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



them what Inequality witn regard to genius ! If 

 eight-tenths of the nation, toiling for their sub 

 sistence, never read if another tenth are inca 

 pable of application, from frivolity, or dissipa 

 tion, or imbecility, it results, that the small 

 share of good sense of which our species is ca 

 pable, can only reside in a small fraction of a 

 nation.&quot; Such was the estimate made by this 

 philosophic monarch of the intelligence possessed 

 by the nations of Europe, sixty years ago; and 

 although society has considerably advanced in 

 intellectual acquisitions since that period, the 

 great body of the people, in every country, is 

 still shrouded in the mists of folly and ignorance. 



Such a picture of the intellectual state of 

 mankind must, when seriously considered, ex 

 cite a melancholy train of reflections in the 

 breast both of the philanthropist and the man of 

 science. That such a vast assemblage of 

 beings, furnished with powers capable of inves 

 tigating the laws of nature, of determining the 

 arrangement, the motions, and magnitudes of 

 distant worlds, of weighing the masses of the 

 planets, of penetrating into the distant regions 

 of the universe, of arresting the lightning in its 

 course, of exploring the pathless ocean, and 

 the region of the clouds, and of rendering the 

 most stubborn elements of nature subservient 

 to their designs : that beings, capable of form 

 ing a sublime intercourse with the Creator him 

 self, and of endless progression in knowledge 

 and felicity, should have their minds almost 

 wholly absorbed in eating and drinking, in child 

 ish and cruel sports and diversions, and in but 

 chering one another, seems, at first view, a 

 tacit reflection on the wisdom of the Creator, 

 in bestowing on our race such noble powers, 

 and plainly indicates, that the current of human 

 intellect has widely deviated from its pristine 

 course, and that strong and reiterated efforts 

 are now requisite to restore it to its original 

 channel. Every lover of science and of man 

 kind must, therefore, feel interested in endea 

 vouring to remove those obstructions which 

 have impeded the progress of useful knowledge, 

 and to direct the intellectual energies of his 

 fellow-men to the prosecution of objects worthy 

 of the high station they hold in the scale of 

 existence. 



Were we to inquire into the external causes 

 which have retarded the progress of the human 

 mind, we should, doubtless, find them existing 

 in the nature of those civil governments which 

 have most generally prevailed in the world, and 

 in several of the ecclesiastical establishments 

 which have been incorporated with them. It 

 has been a favourite maxim with all tyrants, 

 that the people must be kept in ignorance ; and 

 hence \i 3 find, that in the empires of the East, 

 which are all of a despotical nature, the people 

 are debarred from the temple of science, and 

 sunk into a state of the grossest ignorance and 



servility. Under such governments, the minrls 

 of men sink into apathy, the sparks of genius 

 are smothered, the sciences are neglected, 

 ignorance is honoured, and the man of dis 

 cernment, who dares to vent his opinions, ia 

 proscribed as an enemy to the state. In the 

 more enlightened governments on the continent 

 of Europe, the same effects have followed, in 

 proportion to the number of those tyrannical 

 maxims and principles which enter into their 

 constitution. Hence, we may frequently deter 

 mine the degree of mental illumination which 

 prevails among any people, from a considera 

 tion of the nature of the government under 

 which they live. For the knowledge of a 

 people is always in proportion to their liberty, 

 and where the spirit of liberty is either crushed 

 or shackled, the energies of the human mind 

 will never be exerted with vigour, in the acqui 

 sition or the propagation of literature and sci 

 ence. Even in the mildest and most enlight 

 ened governments of modern Europe, the in 

 struction of the general mass of society form? 

 no prominent feature in their administration. 

 Knowledge on general subjects is simply per 

 mitted to be disseminated among the people , 

 its promoters are not sufficiently patronized and 

 encouraged, no funds are regularly appropri 

 ated for this purpose, and its utility, in many 

 instances, is even called in question. It is to 

 be hoped, however, now that the din of war is 

 in some measure hushed, that the attention of 

 princes and their ministers will be more parti 

 cularly directed to this important object: for it 

 might easily be shown, were it necessary, that 

 an enlightened population is the most solid ba 

 sis of a good government, and the greatest se 

 curity for its permanence, that it will always 

 form the strongest bulwark around every throne 

 where the sceptre is swayed by wisdom and 

 rectitude. That the establishment of the Popish 

 religion in any state has a tendency to impede 

 the progress of knowledge, it would be almost 

 needless to illustrate. The mummeries which 

 have been interwoven with its services, the 

 grovelling and superstitious notions which it has 

 engendered, the ignorance which prevails among 

 the population of all those countries over which 

 its influence extends, the alarms of its priestly 

 abettors at the idea of free discussion, and of 

 enlightening the minds of the people, the records 

 of its Inquisitions, the history of the dirk ages, 

 when it prevailed in all its rigour, and ihe recent 

 experience of our own times, show, that it is a 

 system founded on the darkness and imbecility 

 of the human intellect, and can flourish only 

 where the spirit of liberty has fled, and where 

 reason has lost its ascendency in the minds of 

 men.* 



Let It be carefully remembered, that in these 

 remarks it is merely the .system of popery to whtch 

 the author refers. He is aware that many intiivt 



