APP 



APP 



1 1 aving observed thus much, and stated 

 the opinions of two such great men as 

 Lord Coke and Lord Mansfield, \ve can 

 only add one dixit of Lord Coke's, that 

 " acts of parliament, which are made 

 against the freedom of trade, merchandiz- 

 ing, handicrafts, and mysteries, never live 

 long." 4thlnst. 31. 



It is to be observed that this very great 

 check upon trade, by not being able to 

 employ any hands that are able to perform 

 the work required, and especially in those 

 trades which are so easily learnt in a very 

 short space of time, greatly enhances the 

 prices ofall articles, and that at atime when 

 population is daily increasing, and the de- 

 mand proportionably increasing. And this 

 statute is not only a restraining statute, 

 but also an enabling statute, as it empow- 

 ers the workmen to enter into combina- 

 tions against their masters, and to dictate 

 their own terms, encouraging vice, idle- 

 ness, and drunkenness ; demands being 

 made on the masters for an increase of 

 wages ; those demands supported by dan- 

 gerous combinations and conspiracies, and 

 extorted by threats. And such increase, 

 when obtained, not applied for the whole- 

 some purpose of supporting themselves 

 and their families, but to that very de- 

 structive purpose, ruinous to their fami- 

 lies, and highly detrimental to the public 

 at large, the enabling of the parties to 

 spend more days of the week in idleness, 

 drunkenness, vice, and immorality. In 

 many manufactures, so much money is 

 extorted by the journeymen, by means of 

 these combinations, from their employers, 

 that the journeymen will work but three 

 days in the week ; so that 600 are neces- 

 sarily required to do the work that 300 

 might do. 



Until these laws, restricting the binding 

 of apprentices, are repealed, all laws made 

 for the prevention of combinations among 

 workmen, can be of no avail, and will re- 

 main a dead letter in the law books : as in 

 this free country, (however that freedom 

 may be limited as to the checking of mas- 

 ters binding apprentices}, no law on this 

 point can be so worded, that the art, wick- 

 edness, and ingenuity of men, will not 

 contrive to defeat A bad and absurd law 

 is made.vir. the " Apprentice Act," which, 

 by the extension of trade, is found detri- 

 mental to trade ; and then, to do away the 

 mischiefs of that law, another absurd law- 

 is made, r/r. the law to prevent combina- 

 tion, so that mischief is heaped upon 

 mischief, and absurdity upon absurdity. 

 Trade should be as tree as the air we 

 breathe. This is an axiom, the truth of 

 which every day convinces us. 



VOL. I. 



APPROACHES, in fortification, the 

 works thrown up by the besiegers, in or- 

 der to get nearer a fortress, without being 

 exposed to the enemy's cannon : such, in 

 a more particular manner, are the tre nches, 

 which should be connected by parallels, 

 or lines of communication. 



This is the most difficult part of a siege, 

 and where most lives are lost. The ground 

 is disputed inch by inch, and it is of the 

 utmost importance to make the approaches 

 with great caution, and to secure them as 

 much as possible. 



The besieged frequently make counter- 

 approaches, to interrupt and defeat the 

 enemy's approaches. 



APPROPRIATION, the annexing a be- 

 nefice to the proper and perpetual use of 

 a religious house, bishopric, college, &c. 

 Where the king is patron, he may make 

 appropriations himself; but in other cases, 

 after obtaining his licence in chancery, 

 the consent of the ordinary, patron, and 

 incumbent, is requisite. Appropriations 

 cannot be assigned over, but those to 

 whom they are granted may make leases 

 of the profits. There are in England 2845 

 impropriations. 



APPROVER, in law, a person, who, be- 

 i ng indicted of tre ason or felony, for which 

 he is not in prison, confesses the indict- 

 ment : and being sworn to reveal all the 

 treasons and felonies he knows, enters 

 before the coroner his appeal against all 

 his partners in the crime. All persons may 

 be approvers, except peers of the realm, 

 persons attainted or treason or felony, or 

 out-lawed, infants, women, persons runt 

 compos, or in holy orders. 



APPROXIMATION, in arithmetic and 

 algebra, the coming nearer and nearer to 

 a root, or other quantity sought, without 

 expecting to be ever able to find it exactly. 

 There are several methods for doing this, 

 to be found in mathematical books, being 

 nothing but infinitely converging series, 

 some approaching quicker, others slower 

 towards the truth. 



By such an approximation the value of a 

 quantity may be found, though not to the 

 utmost degree of exactness, yet sufficiently 

 so for practice. Thus ^/ 2 = 1.41421356, 

 &c. = the approximating series 1 -f- 



&c ' or 



. 

 supposing x = ^, equal to the serifs 



Again,supposinga > -|-6 to be anon-qua- 

 drate number, and oH"6 to be a non- 

 cubic one ; then will ^/ a 1 + b = a -f- 

 Oo 



